>> ♪ what did we learn on the show tonight, craig ♪ ? >> he thinks he is great but he is not. he's an ass. craig: we got to go. we're not going catch anything. you wrap everything up. i'll meet you in the car.

breaking news. a cord pulling us right back up that fiscal cliff just moments ago. the house of representatives gave their stamp of appeal to build the senate approved early this morning that would avert the fiscal cliff tax increases. at least for now avert big

across-the-board federal spending cuts. we've been following the developing story all day long. a story that touches each and every one of us. tonight we have team coverage for you. we'll take a look at the hit your wallet is still going to take as they have reaction tonight from capitol hill. but first a quick recap of what has been happening on the hill since you sat down to dinner. many lawmakers wanted the spending cuts added to it now. they wanted individuals earning $400 and families earning about $450,000. and it also delays big spending cuts for at least two months. now congress will have to deal with that later and deal with whether to raise the $16.4 trillion borrowing limit so the government can keep paying its bills. but once again the senate measure has now been approved by the house. we take you to capitol hill where we've been monitoring the

votes that just came in, gary? >> reporter: good evening. as you said our assignment was to engage the reactions from the congressional local agreements. many said they felt like it was a bad deal that they could get under the circumstances. many republicans lead in part by virginia eric canter who said no because they believe the legislation does not have enough spending cuts. some spending cuts feel like they will be too great. among them eight district virginia congressman who represents 65,000 federal employees, who believes that the president gave away too much in the negotiation. he spoke on the house floor two months ago. our producer has selected a part of the speech and the remarks of the maryland democrat who favors the legislation. >> we're going to have to deal with the debt sailing. we're going to have to deal with the continuing resolution, expiration, and we're going to have to deal with the sequester. all that's left is spending

cuts. so the only question we have to ask ourselves is what programs do we cut and how deep do we cut them? we need to look back on this night and regret it. >> reporter: but this night we take a step. a positive step. the people watching us mr. speaker on television tonight, and reading about their congress tomorrow and seeing that we were able to act, not perfectly, but in a bipartisan fashion to try to take a step towards fiscal responsibility, fiscal stability, and yes, caring for those who most need our help in this country. >> reporter: it is somehow appropriate that on january 1 the year begins with a fight over the budget. it is going to happen three more times between now and the end of march and those fights will be as difficult as this

one. anita? >> thank you. so what does it mean for your taxes, your paychecks, and in the end your wallets? they join us to break it down. >> there is virtually no one that is not affected. not you, not me. all of our viewers were all affected to get the markets opened tomorrow is no coincidence. and there is just one thing that will make a difference between losing and gaining a couple of hundred points on the dow. remember this word that has a lot of pull. monday's market was a big mess. >> today it appears that the agreement to prevent this new years tax hike is within sight. >> reporter: on the heels of such certain sounding progress, they sprung 166 points. >> you can have the exact opposite happen come tomorrow morning if we don't have a resolution or a clear direction for the resolution, the markets are going to react the opposite way. >> reporter: he manages people

and their money. frankly there will be less of it. >> whose taxes are going to go up? >> in most cases just about everybody. >> reporter: earn $50,000 a year and you'll be seeing about $1,000 less in your paychecks over the course of the year. if you earn $113,700, that's the cap. you'll see $2,300 over the course of the year less. that will be about $200 a month. you can be certain that if it affects this, it will affect the entire economy. what to do? >> it depends on whether or not they are looking to put new money to work and say okay, let's wait until some of the uncertainty comes out of the market. if they need money within 6 to 12 months most likely we'll tell them to take now. >> reporter: history taught us there will be uncertainty. so seneca says to be certain to relax if you can. >> we tell clients is that emotions can be hazardous to your wealth. a major reaction could take a bad situation and make it even

worse. >> again just to be clear those are the payroll taxes that we will all be facing. seneca says the way to make an uncertain situation more certain is to have a plan. now international markets are already up on the hopes that all of this is going to pass including hong kong seeing 1.2% over the markets through tomorrow. we will just need to see that. >> yes, certainly, deborah. thank you. and to recap what the house has passed the emergency fiscal cliff bill, we'll have more tomorrow. breaking it all down for you on 9news starting at 4:25 a.m. in bristow, virginia tonight, a community comes together to honor a police officer who died in the line of duty. a candlelight vigil for the motorcycle officer chris yung who was responding to a car crash yesterday when he collided with a minivan. the case is still being investigated. officer young, 35 years old, the father of three young children. and a devastating start to 2013 for the parishioners of this maryland church, it was

destroyed by a fire this morning. this is the silhouette of the cross, literally burned into the brick wall of the church of oxen hill. the sanctuary was completely charred. there's a chance that the fire was caused by a midnight power outage at the church. this has been a banner day for same-sex couples across the state of maryland. it marks the first day that gay marriage is legal in the state. a couple who wed at the black walnut point inn on tillman island. they stayed a while in order to cheer on the other couples who came, including clayton and many others. >> and it was so quick, you know, through voting and everything. why was that such a big deal? >> this is truly a gift to us to see them be married in order to express their love in a way that it will be recognized. >> in all at least seven couples got married at the

walnut point inn just today. in addition to the legalization of the same-sex marriage in maryland, there were several new laws that took effect today, including the banned on arsenic in chicken feed and a law that allows parents to freeze their kids credit. the idea is to make it easier to fight identity theft of minors. in virginia local governments can now only seize properties for public use by claiming imminent domain. insurance agents have to inform people if their policies exclude coverage for damage from earthquakes. 150 years ago today the emancipation proclamation was signed. in its honor the u.s. postal service unveiled this new forever stamp at the national archives today. the proclamation signed by abraham lincoln on january 1, 1863 freed slaves in the confederate states. on thursday, students from newtown, connecticut will found their old backpacks and their old desks at a new school. the children who survived the shooting massacre at sandy hook

elementary will go back to class in the neighboring town of monroe. the students belongings have been transferred to the new school hopefully making the transition back a little bit easier. more fallout from the jerry sandusky child sexual abuse scandal. the state of pennsylvania will file a lawsuit against the ncaa. now you may remember it took away wins, reduced scholarships. the sanctions were agreed to by the university in july. they include a $60 million fine that would be used nationally to finance child abuse prevention grants. well state and federal lawmakers have raised objections to the money being spent outside pennsylvania. we are now five days away from the biggest football game that washington, d.c. has seen in a long time. sunday's playoffs between the redskins and the seahawks. we'll have more on how both

teams match up later in the newscast, but our reporter took some time to compare and contrast the two cities. seattle washington and washington, d.c. let's start with the sound tracks of the two cities. >> and d.c. has go-go and chuck brown. seattle has grunge washington has the wonderful wharf, a seafood lover's delight. >> and everything is just more natural. >> reporter: while seattle for some reason, throwing their fish around, the pike place fish market. >> theirs is a little more entertaining. >> washington has the monument, seattle has the needle. they make planes, we make legislation, slowly. >> so far we like it. >> washington has tourists. >> actually we've come to washington and it's lovely. >> seattle has techies, the

wealthiest of them all, bill gates. while washington has the water gate. at the end of the daisy yacht l has a nice hot cup of coffee. >> it's been a 54-year history one location. >> while we here in washington have a nice hot bowl of van's chili. >> which is the better city? >> oh no question, all of washington. always washington. >> yeah, we're a little bias. hail to the redskins, let's hope for a win. so did you make any new year's resolutions last night? even today a lot of us do, but we don't always keep them. some tips for making your best intentions last. maybe you didn't put up a real tree this holiday season, but you sure paid for one. that's right. up next how your hard earned money helped finance christmas tree farms year round. erica? cloudy, but a little bit chilly out on the weather terrace. sunshine and much chillier temperatures in the forecast. here's a look at your wake up weather. a few clouds are lingering in

the morning. temperatures dipping into the lower 20s in a couple of our outside spots. breezy conditions moving on in. everything you need to know coming up. if you haven't done it yet, be sure to download the new 9news ipad app. it offers you the news at your fingertips. the hd video and the live interactive weather. just like what they use, it is free in the app store right now and also available for the kindle fire and

we're continuing to follow breaking news on the fiscal cliff deal as we are waiting for the president to speak as you can see a live picture from the white house. just a little while he's expected to react to the house

passing the fiscal cliff bill approved by the senate as soon as he speaks, we'll bring it to you live. and so christmas, it is now in the past and washington guardian is going scrooge on the government agencies. all kinds of farmers. here is the investigator performer. >> ho ho ho. just like we are seeing this year's christmas trees hit the curb, farmers are already preparing crops for next year alongside the fields of subsidies, seated here with your tax dollars. it doesn't go directly, but they report that it pays for training and conferences. it is not just a $1 billion christmas tree. but the department of agriculture and the risk management agencies provided more than $6 million to the

farm groups. >> besides $55,000 for the christmas tree growers and $36,000 for wine growers and $100,000 for corn growers. to teach them about risks, crop insurance, and writing a farm business plan. the department of agriculture says that the program implements a congressional order, designed to stabilize the nation's agricultural economy. tell me, do you want your tax dollars used to stabilize christmas tree crops? i'm investigating reporter russ, 9news. on to the next holiday, you'd never know 23 hours ago there were 1 million people packed into times square. confetti, streamers, hats all swept away. it took an army of about 200 sanitation workers to clean up the giant mess left behind as people said good-bye to 2012 and welcomed 2013. it's easy to make a new year's resolution. the problem is sticking to it, but you can if you are savvy and you plan for success.

the first rule of thumb to be specific. don't just say you want to lose weight or learn how to handle money better. >> those are too general. i think you have to be specific. i want to lose 10 pounds. and i want to save about $2,000 this year. and so the more specific, the more likely that you will meet that goal. >> this psychologist says to also be realistic about what you can do as it will be very hard for people to lose 100 pounds in a year set out to do what is obtainable. next you need to plan for it if you want to slim down and get fit. you might want to set a goal of working out three times a week. remember that things don't change because you want them to. but they do because you change behaviors as we have said it before. start with the short-term goals. see how you're doing if you have a setback, get right back on track and don't give up. in tonight's health alert, it is everywhere in the american diet and they might make it harder to stay slim. for the first time scientists

use the imaging test to show that fructose could trigger the brain changes tied to eating more. the study of 20 normal people found that after drinking a fructose beverage that the brain doesn't register the feeling of being full like it does when simple sugars are consumed. fructose is added to a lot of processed foods and drinks. this guy probably won't be nominated as father of the year. the 26-year-old showed up at the gentlemen's club in daytona beach drunk with baby in tow. he wanted to smoke so he asked the clerk to hold a child while he ran outside to do so. he disappeared and the business owner called 911. >> yeah, the baby was here for a few minutes and we had to chase him down to get him to come back into the store to pick up his child. he is severely intoxicated. >> okay. so the guy eventually returned, grabbed his baby stumbling down the street. when police arrived, he tried to hide, but the baby's crying

gave him away. now he is charged with child neglect. >> there is really almost nothing to say. >> yeah, absolutely. why don't we move on to the weather. >> yes. something a little more pleasant than crazy daddy. >> exactly. a little bit of a breeze out there tomorrow, but nothing big. it's going to be chilly though. let's take a look at the weather cam so you can see exactly what we have out there right now. lots of clouds are in place. temperature is 41 degrees. temperatures have not fallen off very quickly during the overnight hours as we do have a strong breeze out of the north at 12 miles per hour currently. and that will continue as we head through the overnight hours into tomorrow. and that northerly breeze will bring in less cloud cover and some clearing overnight tonight. we'll have the breezes during the day on wednesday. it's going to be chilly all workweek long. just a chance for a flurry, not really looking at any precipitation this week. right now 34 degrees in frederick and gaithersburg. 38 in baltimore and 41 in d.c. you can see all that rain to our south. it's going to stay to our south

before finally pushing off to the east. so as we head into wednesday, we'll see some of those clouds clearing out of here as you're stepping out of the door for the morning rush. maybe you don't need your sunglasses, but you might need them around lunchtime. the entire metro will see a return of the sunshine by the afternoon. so it will be breezy as we will see the high pressure to the north bringing in the breezes. so overnight tonight, partial clearing. a little bit on the chilly side. 26 to 32 for the overnight lows and the winds are out of the north that will increase as we head into wednesday morning. so mostly sunny, just a bit breezy in the morning with the temperatures in the 30s and the windchills are in the 20s. but the windchills, they will remain in the upper 20s, even in the afternoon because the winds become northerly at 10 to 20 miles per hour. it will be a sunny afternoon and only 35 to 40 for your average highs. so it will be a chilly one. however the 9 weather alert is still green for the next few days. our only chance for even a

slight little snow shower that will be on friday. probably just flurries, breezyconditions once again. on thursday a nice day with the high of 40 and then on friday, 38 degrees with that partly sunny sky. it looks like next weekend, well, it depends on which day you're looking at. and now it is time to take a look at president obama as he has reactions to the fiscal cliff. >> the premise for my campaign is to change the tax code that was skewed towards the wealthy at the expense of working middle class americans. and tonight, we've done that. and thanks to the votes of the democrats and the republicans and congress. and i will sign a law that raises taxes on the wealthiest 2% of americans, while preventing a middle class tax hike that could have sent the economy back in the recession and obviously they had a severe impact on families all across america. i want to thank all the leaders of the house and senate. and in particular i want to thank the work that was done by

my extraordinary vice president joe biden as well as leader harry reid, speaker boehner, nancy pelosi and mitch mcconnell. everybody worked very hard on this and i appreciate it and joe once again i want to thank you for your hard work. under this law, more than 98% of the americans and 97% of the small businesses, they will not see their income taxes go up. millions of families, they will continue to receive the tax credits to help raise their kids and send them to college. the companies will continue to receive tax credits for the research that they do. the investments they make and the clean energy jobs that they create. and 2 million americans, they were out of work, but out there looking, pounding the pavement every day. we're going to continue to receive unemployment benefits as long as they are actively looking for a job. but i think that we all recognize that this law, it is just one step in the broader

effort to strengthen our economy and broaden our opportunity for everybody. the fact is that the deficit is still too high. and we are still investing too little and the things that we need for the economy to grow as fast as it should. and that's why speaker boehner and i originally tried to negotiate a larger agreement that would put this country on a path to paying down its debt while also putting americans back to work, rebuilding our roads and bridges, and providing investments in areas like education and job training. unfortunately there was not enough support or time for the large agreement in the laying duck session of congress. and that failure will come with a cost as the messy nature of the process over the past several weeks, they have made the business more uncertain and consumers less confident. but we are continuing to chip away at this problem, step by step. last year i signed into law

about $1.7 trillion in the deficit reduction. it further reduces the deficit by raising $226 billion from the wealthiest households in america and there will be more deficit reduction as congress, they decide what to do with the automatic spending cuts that we have now delayed for two months. and i want to make this point as i have demonstrated throughout the past several weeks. i am very open to compromise. and i agree with the democrats and the republicans that the aging population and the rising cost of health care will make medicare the biggest contributor to our deficit. i believe that we've got to find ways to reform that program without hurting seniors who count on it to survive. and i believe that there is further unnecessary spending on government that we can eliminate. but we can't simply cut our way to prosperity. cutting spending has to go hand and hand with further reforms for our tax codes.

and so that the wealthiest corporations and individuals, they can't take advantage of loopholes in deductions that aren't available to most americans. and we can't keep cutting things like the basic research and new technology and still expect it to exceed in the 21st century economy. and so we're going to have to continue to move forward in the deficit reduction, but we have to do it in a balanced way, making sure that we are growing even as we get a handle on our spending. and now one last point i want to make while i will negotiate over many things. i will not have another debate with this congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they have already racked up through the laws that they have passed. let me repeat. we can't not pay the bills that we have already incurred. if congress refuses to give the united states government the ability to pay these bills on

time, the consequences for the entire global economy would be catastrophic. far worse than the impacts of the fiscal cliff. and people, they will remember back in 2011, the last time that this course of action was threatened, our entire recovery was put at risk, consumer confidence plunged, the business investment plunged and gross dropped. in today's agreement, they will remain in place as long as i am president. the deficit needs to be reduced in the way it is balanced as everyone needs to pay their fair share as everyone needs to pay their parts. that's how our economy works best. that's how we grow. the subtotal of all the budget agreements that we have reached so far proves that there is a path forward that it is possible. and if we focus not only on our politics, but on what's right for the country. and the one thing that i think

hopefully in the new year will focus on is seeing if we can put a package like this together with a little bit less drama, a little less brinkmanship, not scare the heck out of folks quite as much. we can come together as democrats and republicans, to cut spending and raise revenue in a way that reduces our deficit, protects our middle class, provides ladders into the middle class for everybody who is willing to work hard. we can find a way to afford the investments that we need to grow and compete. we can settle this debate for the very least not allow it to be so all consuming all the time that it stops us from meeting a host of other challenges that we face, creating jobs, boosting incomes, fixing our infrastructure, fixing our immigration system, protecting our planet from the harmful effects of climate change. boosting the domestic energy production, protecting our kids from the horrors of gun violen